SkyPix

A digital photographic storybook of clouds, weather and water by Roger Edwards.

Western Banded Brilliance

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Deep-zooming into a series of thick cirrus bands at sunset yielded a marvelous melange of orange tones, with the nearer sky more muted and bluer in shadows.   Though the field of view was limited, it was far from limiting; in fact, elements of the sky normally overlooked at wide angle or even a "normal" 50-mm focal perspective become a greater parts of the picture, and allow deeper … [Read more...]

Tornado through the Rain

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The '98 Dover tornado, about to dissipate four miles to my east-southeast, was shredding and uprooting trees along US-81 at the time of the photo.  The diffuse grayish-pink area to is near right was made of veils of rain circling the mesocyclone, aglow in the cloud-muted pastels of early-stage sunset light. For most of the tornado's lifespan, the supercell also forced good precipitation–updraft … [Read more...]

Crepuscular Rays

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The waning day's shrinking cumulus clouds accentuated intense crepuscular rays in the western skies of central Oklahoma.  The diverging "fan" of these rays is just an illusion; they actually are parallel to each other, as are the rays' manifestations on the opposite horizon (postcrepusculars).   This is my archetypical example, but check out all the other crepuscular rays in SkyPix! Norman OK … [Read more...]

Aerial Twilight

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Compared to the previous twilight photo, shot from sea level, the upper sky here is darker, the dynamic range greater over the same arc-distance of the image.  This is because I shot the photo from an aircraft at around 35,000 feet above sea level, which is in the upper troposphere in wintertime, and well-removed from the greater dispersion of light that occurs in the planetary boundary layer.  Oh … [Read more...]

Blue Fog, Third Beach

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This was a rather uncommonly still, quiet moment along the rugged Washington coast, the gently lapping surf behind me measured in inches instead of feet, the distant and occasional calls of seals and seabirds echoing in the concavity of the coastal bluffs, the cool and moist air ever so slowly caressing the skin on the softest of hints at a breeze.   Overhead, sea fog slowly eroded away from the … [Read more...]

Majesty before Mayhem

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Less than 15 minutes after this amazing skyscape appeared over the grasslands of east-central Montana, the very same atmospheric process (a supercell at the tail end of a line of storms) unloaded severe, damaging winds and hail that busted every west-facing window in Winnett.  Therein is the dichotomy of life on the Great Plains: majesty and beauty intertwine with danger and destruction, day to … [Read more...]